Songs that Sound Like Other Songs

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Rod Stewart vs. Clarence “Frogman” Henry

I overhead a very familiar melody the other day, pulled out Shazam on my iPhone and discovered it was a song called “Ain’t Got No Home” by Clarence “Frogman” Henry. Then I realized that this is something Rod Stewart incorporated in his version of “Some Guys Have All the Luck” (originally released by The Persuaders in 1973 sans this refrain). So, does Henry deserve a writing credit??

It’s not just you. Ray Barone summed it up in an episode of Everybody Loves Raymond (it had occurred to me before I saw the episode) when he sung This Old Man to Deborah then said “now think much slower and think of the kids’ favourite purple dinosaur”, he also discussed Twinkle Twinkle Little Star and the Alphabet Song, not realising the similar passage in Baa Baa Black Sheep.

Still, some of these uses of other melodies in children’s songs took a while for me to notice or even had to be pointed out to me, especially when the lyrics have a different number of syllables to the original: Heads, Shoulders, Knees and Toes has the same melody as There’s a Tavern in the Town; same case with Do Your Ears Hang Low? and Turkey in the Straw; Little Peter Rabbit and Glory, Glory Hallelujah; The Animals Go Marching/The Ants Go Marching and When Johnny Comes Marching Home Again, but this doesn’t do the history of the melody justice and I’ve said before about the others; Michael Finnegan and Ten Little Indians; a song about Milkshakes from Pipsqueaks and Sitting on Top of the World by Delta Goodrem (2010) and there were similarities between a song from Toybox and Love Somebody, a duet Doris Day did.

I’m assuming this segment isn’t in the original version of Some Guys Have All the Luck. Anyway, it seems sometimes Rod has done it accidentally, for example, the story goes that he was on holiday and was drunk when he wrote DYTIS and didn’t realise where it came from. When approached by Taj Mahal the correspondence was very civil and Rod rectified the situation. For more evidence, check out The Balltrap (1976).
Sounds like Rockin’ All Over the World by John Fogerty (1975) and this is after he changed it. The Deluxe Edition of A Night On the Town contains an early version of The Balltrap. I guess it’s at your discretion whether to include the early version or not.http://www.yourepeat.com/watch/?v=eZydm9ogSrI
You may be more familiar with the Status Quo version, but as they didn’t release their version until 1977, Rod must have been familiar with the original, which I think was a hit at the time. Here is the original.